Writing on Hardie Midkiff

Bondi Blue and Other Things I'm Not Over

Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Pre-keynote draft for WWDC 2026

Before Apple released the iBook in 1999, magazines ran entire features on what it might look like. Rumors, renders, and breathless speculation made anticipation feel participatory, the way Apple somehow always could. You were not just waiting for a product. You were part of the build-up.

Stephen Hackett's piece on the clamshell iBook G3 is worth reading if you want to remember what it felt like when a computer could still be genuinely surprising. Blueberry. Tangerine. Indigo. Key Lime. Apple was making things that had personality, and the world responded. The iBook sold 700,000 units in 19 months.

Week 4 of Advent: Love - The Reason for Everything

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We've journeyed through weeks of preparation. We hoped for God to come. We acted in faith when circumstances screamed defeat. We experienced the joy of transformation. Now, in this final week before Christmas, we arrive at the deepest truth: Love. The reason for everything.Advent helps us prepare our hearts spiritually for Christmas by walking through hope, faith, joy, and love:the deepest themes of what we're celebrating.

Quick answers: Advent week 4

What does the fourth week of Advent represent? Love:specifically, God's incarnational love demonstrated by sending Jesus to earth.
What color is the fourth Advent candle?Purple (or rose), representing love and anticipation of Christ's birth.
What is incarnational love?Love that doesn't stay distant but becomes present:just as God became human in Jesus to be with us.
Why does Advent matter during Christmas preparation?Advent helps us prepare our hearts spiritually for Christmas by walking through hope, faith, joy, and love:the deepest themes of what we're celebrating.

Week 3 of Advent: The Gospel Joy That Can't Be Contained

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone,

As I write this, the days are getting shorter and the pull toward the holidays (and all its chaos) is strong. I found myself re-watching Scrooged the other night and was struck by something I hadn't seen before: a powerful picture of the very joy Advent points us toward. Let's explore it together.

What Scrooged Teaches Us About Grace, Transformation, and Irrepressible Joy

This is part 3 of the Advent Blog Series. Start with Hope, then Faith, then Joy, and finally Love.

Week 2 of Advent: Faith When Everything Says Quit

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This is part 2 of the Advent Blog Series. Start with Hope, then Faith, then Joy, and finally Love.

What Die Hard Teaches Us About Acting Like God Is Telling the Truth

There's a scene in Die Hard that perfectly captures what faith is. John McClane, barefoot and bleeding, is crawling through broken glass on the roof of Nakatomi Plaza. Every visible fact screams at him: you're outmanned, you're hurt, you're alone, you're going to die. The terrorists outnumber him twelve to one. He has no shoes, no backup, and no realistic chance of winning. Everything argues for surrender.

Week 1 of Advent: Hope in Brokenness

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What is biblical hope?

When Edward Scissorhands emerges from his dark castle, he is met with the gap between longing and capacity. Where hands should be, there are only scissors. He was created for gentleness, but his form makes tenderness nearly impossible. He cannot hold what he longs to touch. He cannot embrace what he loves.

This is Week 1 of our Advent series, where we explore four themes at the heart of the season: hope, faith, joy, and love. Each week, we'll use a unique "Christmas" film to help us understand what Scripture teaches about preparing our hearts for Christ's coming. If you haven't read the introduction to this series, you can start there to understand how these unexpected stories illuminate biblical truth. This week, Edward Scissorhands teaches us about hope.

Advent 2025: Top Ten Unlikely Holiday Films with Meaning

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Top Ten Christmas Movies (That Aren't Really Christmas Movies)

Thanksgiving is over: the turkey leftovers are in the fridge, the football games have been watched, and Christmas music is now playing everywhere. Like clockwork, I start thinking about Christmas movies.

I have an unconventional relationship with Christmas movies. I enjoy traditional fare like The Santa Clause (1994) and The Polar Express (2004), yet some of my favorite Christmas movies don't have Santa as a main character. Some even have a darker, grittier tone. While there's endless debate about whether Die Hard (1988) counts as a Christmas movie (it does), here's what I've discovered: films don't have to be "Christmasy" to reflect truths that Scripture teaches about Christmas.

About

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hardie Midkiff ·com

I’m an ordained Baptist minister and chaplain. I’ve spent my career in the rooms where the ordinary vocabulary of hope runs out; hospitals, hospice, and the hard seasons where people carry what can’t be fixed.
That work has shaped how I write, teach, and think. Not theoretically. In practice.

Ministry

I serve as a healthcare chaplain, which means I sit with people in the hardest moments of their lives; patients, families, and staff navigating suffering, death, and the questions that don’t resolve. I am a Baptist minister by conviction and a chaplain to everyone, regardless of faith tradition or the absence of one.

If You're in a Hard Season